Advice needed for lighting the wide shot of this bar:

[omar robles]

I apologize i am having issues attaching a photo of the location.   So I will just ask a general question.  We are shooting in a bar and while I already know how I want to light the talent for the scene I have no idea how to light the wide.  The bar has wood pieces above which I think I can rig lights to.  And my instinct is telling me to use tube lights for easy rigging for the wide.  Any advice would be appreciated. 

 

 

[Nicolas POISSON]

It would help to post pictures of the real bar and examples close to your intent.

[David Mullen ASC]

Since real bars use a mix of types of lights, it allows you to create the look you want in terms of mixing hard and soft lights and using colored lighting. It all depends on the location and the mood you want based on the story so there are no generic answers. It also depends on if you are shooting dialogue scenes at the bar counter versus a table.

I filmed in a lot of NYC bars and nightclubs over five seasons of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" and two seasons of "Smash" earlier and there was no single generic approach. I remember once wanting to try out a blue neon look for a sequence only to discover the location was all wooden countertops and red leather booths and red brick walls, so I didn't want to fight that warmth by pumping blue light everywhere. To be different in this case, I tried putting some Leko spots straight down along the wooden counter with an iris in each to create a row of hot circles that bounced up into people's faces with warm light.